The Promise We Never Made Aloud
by Aiko Isari
Summary: They never promised to protect each other. They never promised to wish for only good things. In a world where everything might just come to an end tomorrow, it's surely okay to be a little bit selfish, isn't it? Sonoko/Sumi. AU.
1. 1

1.

The aptitude test is complete. Soon her life will be placed in a color box, and her training will begin anew. Joy.

Sumi puts down her pencil, hands shaking. She should not be afraid. She has done well. She is of the best. She is a Washio. They called her forth from her old family to take on a new one. It had to be worth it.

Beside her, children sing their delight and murmur with relief. They pack their pencils away and she hurries to mimic them, to not stand out. She is not ready to be special, not yet.

Taisha-sama chimes for them. The class stands and they bow. Sumi stands too and she shudders in front of her chair. The wish flutters like a butterfly.

She watches the nearly perfect sky shudder and shuts her eyes. It's gone too fast and the bell chimes.

Without hesitation, she escapes from one watchful pair of eyes to another.

And another. And another. She hurries home before they can call her name.

They watch her.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ These fandoms need loveeeee. 32 drabbles of it to be specific.

Challenges: WIXOSS Non-Flash prompt - 069 - prompt: trance, Yuki Yuna Non Flash prompt - 037 - character: Sonoko, Diversity WRiting (AMF) H50,


	2. 2

2.

In this world, the idea of battle is a given.

In this world, children are soldiers in battle games. That is a given. Only children have the power to fight against the things on the other side of the barrier. Only children know how to navigate the safe zone, a power which is lost as humans age.

Children fight and adults raise fighters. That is how the world has been. In the old families especially. At least, this is the case for the few old families that are left. Like hers. The Washio family, who glowed with blue or white, never black, never red. Sometimes purple. But the colors matched, the colors mattered. They were a sign of the soul. And a warrior's soul must be serene, must be at ease, especially on the battlefield.

Sumi's heart is not serene. Like the rippling water it trembles in fear.

How foolish, she thinks. This is what I was born for.

But that really doesn't mean anything in the long run.

The package looms in her mailbox. It is purple. So she will be of the darkness.

Sumi giggles so much it hurts. It's hysteria in progress.


	3. 3

3.

She gets a letter. After the purple, the second matters slightly more, but just barely. She doesn't care as much as she should, she knows. After all, this is where her partner, or partners, will be told to her. She will be given her first training session schedule. Even though she already knows how to play, even though she is fully aware of how to fight, using both is something you don't get to do until you're assigned, and now that she is-

Thump thump goes her heart.

Sumi smiles.

She will be fine, she knows it. She is in this family because she is wanted here, not because she was born to it. She has earned this.

She takes the package and slits it open with her nail.

 _Your partners will be Nogi Sonoko and Minowa Gin, led by Nogi Sonoko. Present yourself at the training center at 0700 on this upcoming Thursday._

 _Your LRIG is Iona Ultima. Please acquaint yourselves appropriately._

The symbol of the Taisha is all that remains for a signature.

She opens the deck pack now with careful fingers and the magic thrums beneath them in delighted assurance. It knows better than she does. Figures.

She lifts the main card out and looks at it, at the long beautiful black hair she has been trying to cultivate for years and years. "Pleased to meet you, selector," she says.

Sumi nods, mimicking her. "Pleased to meet you, Iona."

 _Wow,_ she thinks. _That was stiff._

Is this what she has to look forward to?


	4. 4

4.

The meeting room is much too spacious for three people. Perhaps if they had the totems, , or the miniature gods, however they were called, the room would have more activity. As it is, right now Sumi is alone, watched by her LRIG. Her fingers itch for a weapon that they cannot hold.

 _A pretty little bow with arrows sharper than kitchen knives and fine tuned. A pretty little bow that goes into bright fangs if you just aim with the right card and carries your hopes and dreams._

When she had been six years old, Sumi had drawn herself wit ha weapon. Civillian parents would have been concerned, but hers had been proud first. Before she had been

-sold away-

It was almost like they were thinking of becoming a great family and power of their own.

She had giggled them. She laughs for a different reason now.

Iona watches her with eyes old and tired. Strangely tired. Why would they be? She has always existed in the card, for the sake of the card. For the sake of granting a wish, Sumi's own wish to be specific. She breathes slowly, in and out.

"Are you looking forward to training?" Sumi asks, for want of something to say.

"I'm looking forward to battle."

Sumi feels sweat drip down her face and shifts to speak again.

Then there's a very loud explosion, forcing her to run to see what it is because things aren't supposed to explode here anymore. It would be _bad_ if they did.

"Hoo! Yes, yes!" Some one was crowing. "Check it out Yuzuki! _That's_ a Hero move, huh?"

"… Gin, you broke it."

"I did not!"

Sumi winces. She… she wanted noise, but maybe not this level of noise.


	5. 5

5.

They fight a lot.

Not the kind of fighting that rivals make of each other, but Gin makes it close.

You see, she is the strongest. No one's allowed to forget that. No one. She's not arrogant about it but it'd be nice if she forgot herself every once in a while.

Sonoko finds her funny.

Sumi finds Sonoko amusing herself.

Gin is… Gin. Sumi isn't sure what category to put her in yet.

Their LRIGs seem to get along fine, a sentiment that made Gin crow like, well, the bird.

"Even your stiff LRIG is more fun than you, Sumi-chan!"

She's joking, Sumi knows. She knows because when the heat of the game starts, Sumi is the wildest of any of them. Just get a Vertex youth in her sights, They're gone in a flash.

It's just a sign of her good aim, she knows, otherwise she would be dead.

"I guess."

"Really?" Sonoko looks at her own blue LRIG, who seems to be dozing in her card until she isn't. She is wide awake and watching them. Piriluk's hollow eyes stare into her and through her with a mocking sort of ease. She almost never talks.

"Yeah!" Gin's staring at her now. "Do you go out?"

Sumi nods, mouth dry. This is out for her. This is out and active because home was people willing to give her up, home was people who were thinking so hard of the world, the greater good. They were home like the training grounds.

Gin scoffs and laughs in the same push of her mouth. "No way! We'll have to show you what going out looks like, right Sonoko?"

"Mm..." Sonoko scribbles in her novel's notebook. "Okay~"

"Are you even listening?"


	6. 6

6.

"Iona?"

"Mm?"

Sumi sighs. She doesn't mean to do it so loudly. She doesn't mean to be so outright disappointed. But they've been together for a month and they still don't talk. They just train and study and that's the end of it. But Sumi cannot continue like this, not when the Washio home is full of duty and power (and sometimes love).

She needs something more than this.

"You require something." Not a question. Iona's tone would have questions but they wouldn't be questions.

Sumi colors and it shows all over her face. "I, I do not require anything. I want something but I don't… require..." The courage and anger had drained out into her shoes. "I want you to be my friend is that too much to ask?"

Silence. A different silence, one that would let her cover her blushing cheeks and let Iona think. Or be angry. She'd never seen her angry.

Iona looks at her with strange, strong eyes. It almost seems like they glow. She makes herself stare back.

Then the blank face returns. "How?" she inquires.

Sumi pauses, feeling dismay creep into her throat. "I… I don't know."

Iona purses her lips.

"But!" Sumi makes a face of indignation. "There has to be some way. If we don't work well, we'll die."

"You will." Iona's correction is seemingly harmless. Seemingly.

"You'll be burnt." Sumi is slightly final, though she doesn't mean to be.


	7. 7

7.

It's the worst battle yet. She's shaking. She's shaking. The chimes are growing. No one breathes around her but them.

Gin feels happy. So happy.

 _Why can't I feel the same way?_

This was her duty. This is her everything, how can she be shaking now what is the matter with her?

The world erodes beneath her feet. No it does more, it crumbles lie sot and for a moment she can''t breathe. Then Sonoko bounces about like a child and raises her LRIG to the not-heavens.

"Grow!" she shouts. "Piriluk!"

Gin is right beside her, Yuzuki already at her heels and bursting flames.

Somehow… somehow they are so strong.

She readies her bow and even when she hits, the timing works. But it grazes flames and swords and people could be getting hurt and it's all her fault!

"Iona, grow!" she shouts.

 _Purple and blue are mixed on a palette._

Those are the opening lines to one of Sonoko's novels and as Iona reacts to her, dances black feathers and white light, it feels appropriate.

So does the blood suddenly dripping from her stomach.


	8. 8

8.

She wakes and fills up with shame like water in a basement.

"You're long-ranged," their coach chides. "Why did you just stand there like that?"

Sumi makes to speak and finds that all she can do is croak. "I..."

"It was a mistime!" Gin says quickly, waving her bandaged hands. "There was a lot of wind and I couldn't hear Sonocchi! I don't think you should get too mad. What if she had jumped wrong, she could have lost her leg and-"

"Minowa-san." Iona's deadpan subdues the swordswoman before the coach even had a chance. "My partner made an error of judgement."

Gin wilts but quickly reasserts herself. "Well, we're trained for this but… that's not the same as experience, you know?"

Sumi winces because-

"Gin-chan, you're not helping," Sonoko says in her dreamy way, now brushing her fingers over Sumi's forehead like she's checking for a fever. Well, that's not quite right but her face is burning from shame so… it's close enough, surely.

And it's not embarrassment at the blatant affection, nope nope.


	9. 9

9.

The scolding only makes her sickened with herself.

Sumi's response to this is to train for hours. Her fingers are bandaged and scarred from lost skin. Iona doesn't train with her, but then she wouldn't dare. She doesn't feel the way about these things that Sumi does. This is surely life and death for her, but she doesn't know what that means.

It's up to her to teach her but she doesn't really want to do that either. That's effort she doesn't have time to expend.

Still, she tries. "How are my shots?"

"You've missed less this go around, but you're aiming too high."

Sumi nods.

"There is no hurry."

"Vertex hurry."

"Vertex are parasites. They don't think. They respond to a greater will."

"How do you know?" She thinks about snapping, considers laughing until she dry heaves.

"I don't. Just that their movements are predictable to be human." Iona shakes her head, feathers moving. "Humans are only sometimes predictable."

Sumi fires another arrow, not sure how she feels about that.

Then again, like Sonoko, Iona is very good at creating that uncertainty.


	10. 10

10.

Gin wakes her up-

Wait a minute how did she get into her house?

"Minowa-san!"

"Hi!"

Oh. No, no she had to be dreaming. She doesn't say this. Instead she shrieks, remembering her adoptive father's warning about people sneaking into her room out of nowhere. She didn't even know either of the girls well enough for that to-

"Good morning." Iona's flat greeting cut Sumi from the potentially dangerous thought process. They were a team, after all. "Are we late?"

"Late to what?" Gin grins a bit wide and shakes her head no. "I'm up early for once! Sonocchi is still in the shower! Come on the mall is empty at this time of day! We can get some new cards!"

Cards, right. Accessories, powers. Signi. Familiars. Better ways to stay alive.

 _But of course they weren't just gonna die were they?_

She had completely forgotten about the well… game aspect of the situation, even though quite a few people in her year had fallen for the actual game that would save the world: WIXOSS.

If only they knew what it was. She was lucky to have that information.

She was, however, not lucky to have Gin dragging her down the bed to her holy water.

"Minowa- please wait! Minowa-san!"

"It's so nice to have such a lively house," she heard a servant say as she was dragged down the path.


	11. 11

11.

Iona-san is surprisingly talkative in the store. All the LRIGs are, in their own ways. Yuzuki and Minowa are chattering like no one is looking at them strangely and Nogi is nodding along to Piriluk and… picking the wrong cards anyway. Multiple times. It'd be annoying if Piriluk didn't have a small smile plastered to her normally empty face.

"Are you listening?"

She meant to say yes, but Sumi felt her tongue lock up in her mouth. Iona sighed. "Of course not."

The lack of disappointment made her eyes water a little with rage and pain. "I'm sorry… this is all a bit much."

"They don't teach you deck building in Vertex training," Iona says without much change, like she hadn't spoken at all. "You should learn what you can here. Play a game."

Play? Talk to people. Try to win. Try to survive.

"They are not _selected_ , like you." Iona then shrugs, actually shrugs. "Mostly. You should be fine. Losing here doesn't mean anything."

"Losing means a lot," she murmurs and finds Minowa-san is already playing. Each card is thrown down with a heavy flourish and Nogi…. Nogi-san watches and it hurts for whatever reason.

Sumi goes to find a game. It could be fun, after all.


	12. 12

12.

She loses twice in a row before her hair falls out of its neat array and she's muffling screams of frustration into her bag. Iona isn't laughing but she could still tell how amusing she had to look with her eyes watering and her face pale but for her cheeks full of red heat. She can't even hear her opponent trying to – to what really? Comfort her? Scold her? Correct her techique? How could she save the world with such sloppy play?

"Wasshi!"

Nogi-san's voice was an annoyance now, a hindrance. "Ooh," she continues, her eyes likely alight on the board. "Not bad, Wasshi!"

She wants to stop the nickname, to correct it. But then, Minowa-san is clearer next to her. "Wow, it is, you really got close!"

Something unfurls in her stomach and she looks up. Her face is probably tear stained and undignified but she doesn't mind. "What did I do wrong then?" She tries not to sniff at her comrades, tries to be earnest but right now her ego smarts.

They jump to her with tissues and affectionate touches and they honestly don't help except to make her laugh. And then they're all laughing because the chair topples over with the weight of three girls on it.

They end up not buying anything at all.


	13. 13

13.

Sonoko and Gin insist on their first names, insist with pride and fervor. They insist on hers too, like she matters, like she is a piece in their great puzzle. Like they are not put together by pride and duty and heroism. Like they're friends.

Sumi trembles at the thought.

"She hesitated too."

Sumi whirled to face Iona, who has her arms crossed casually, her black eyes without pity. "Who?" It's too late to not be affected. She was too surprised by Iona, who had decided to talk out of nowhere again.

"Ruko."

Sumi picks up Iona's card, peering into Iona's eyes as much as possible. "Ruko? Who is she?"

Iona looked at her as if through great pain. "A young, foolish hero. She's probably dead."

"Probably?"

Iona looks away. "I don't remember. Yuzuki might."

Sumi sits back on her bed. Then, with determined nonchalance, she turned around and went to pray to the Taisha for strength.

For some reason, it makes her stomach turn.

Eventually, however, she has to be nosy. There is no way she cannot. "How did you meet?"

Iona was quiet for a long time. If she hadn't heard her snore before, Sumi would have assumed she was asleep. "...We fought. And she saved me. She saved us. She was so kind."

Sumi didn't imagine the crack in Iona's voice, but she tried to pretend that the sobs that came after were fake.

She was so, so sorry she had asked.


	14. 14

14.

Everything feels wrong as they train. Sensei's voice seems to warble, mixing with Sumi's wonder. Does Sensei know? Does _Taisha_ know?

Do the others know? That she wants to know more than anything. Iona had mentioned Yuzuki, not Piriluk. However, Piriluk was eccentric, special, terrifying. It was possible that she knew more than them.

Sumi, on a day when she could see without the universe spinning in terrifying directions, made herself ask with the promise of Udon. It was worth the slight lightness in her wallet.

"Iona knows someone named Ruko," she begins without even taking a slurp of udon. (Sumi knows she will pay for that later.) "She said that Yuzuki-san would too."

Sonoko takes a happy slurp and then looks over at Piriluk. Her own LRIG has gone quieter than usual, tracing a pattern on the floor of the card. Gin lifts Yuzuki's card to squint at it.

"Is that true?"

Yuzuki looks all around her card, searching for an escape. Then Piriluk lets out a quiet sigh.

"You weren't supposed to say anything, Iona," she says flatly. "The Taisha will be cross."

Iona lets out a snort. "Let them be."


	15. 15

15.

Yuzuki settles on the floor of her card. Sumi takes a quick slurp of udon, watching Gin go back to hers. Sonoko sits on her heels in the chair, smiling because how else did you deal with a reveal like that? They don't even know what was going on!

Gin leans Yuzuki against a water glass. The LRIG paces back and forth, a small pout on her face.

"Ruko was a Hero," she says after a few moments as if giving up on something. "She fought for all of us LRIG, to change us. She implored herself to the gods."

All three girls look at each other. Like a priestess? There weren't many of those around these days, none that they had ever met.

Iona nods. "She wasn't supposed to be, initially. She was supposed to be an ordinary girl with no wishes, no dreams. And she was made to fight, for a wish she wasn't prepared with. And then she found one. To save us. To-" She pauss for a moment, struggling for words and chewing her lip to find any. "To end suffering."

All three LRIG look at each other again. Piriluk licks her lips. Then, all of their phones chime at once.

Vertex.

Sumi resists the urge to slam her head onto a table.


	16. 16

16.

Flaming twin blades cut through air, missing the Vertex by a single hair. Sonoko writes that down in her head, that was a good one! Then she extends her umbrella, Piriluk whispering all sorts of tings in her ear. The cracks in the Vertex, the prayers to victory, Piriluk told her everything she could.

Except… she hadn't told her something important. It was obvious there were previous heroes, she was descended from one, from the surviving one. However, there had been a girl before them, one the LRIG knew.

With a startled squeak. Sonoko ducks under a tree and the fireball crashes into the wood, eroding it in an almost gleeful manner. Gin roars as she soars past, jumping from Wasshi's projectiles and it is story-worthy to watch but she can't do that. She leaps after her, narrowly avoiding the barrage from behind them. Each shot rings with Sumi's awful anger.

They can scold her later. Right now they have to survive, get answers, do something. Taisha have always been keeping something from them after all.

They have to know what if they were going to keep fighting like this.

In case someone ends up dying.


	17. 17

17.

They forget about the whole thing, of course, because they're tired. And the LRIG never approach the topic again. It makes Sumi twitches once she remembers but Iona only beckons for more training, more and more of it. She goes to bed dreaming of SIGNII and glowing orbs of light until it's all a dreamless void.

Then, the Vertex come while she's sleeping.

She's jolted awake and into the fighting grounds by her phone, leaving Sonoko and Gin flailing for a moment. But she joins them, joins them quickly. Everything but the thrill of the battle is forgotten and she smiles. She feels Iona smile with her mouth.

When it's over, the three of them stumble into Sumi's house, dizzy and content and exhausted. And wrong.


	18. 18

18.

Gin's family is kind. Having two new girls on the strange, expansive property invites nothing more than more cookies.

Very kind as a matter of fact. Very busy and with small children about, but they welcome the two rich girls without embarrassment. Their large home is only that way due to inheritance. They keep it up together, all of that family. They are in service to the Taisha. They have no fear of disappearance. Or loss.

They're kind and friendly and stilted and Sumi feels a pang deep in her chest that she cannot explain for a long time.

She cannot even put it into words or she will cry.

Washio Sumi does end up crying, crying for Mimori Togo who will never exist and never ever will because Washio Sumi must be a hero.

Sonoko and Gin lean on her but if she leans on Sonoko a little less it's because Gin is used to shouldering for many and nothing more.

And nothing more.


	19. 19

19.

Routine is quick and easy and preferable, terrorizing in the midst of not knowing what will come and what could come. Sumi was starting to get used to spitting blood and being bruised. To be fair it was happening less and less now. Sonocchi's shielding skills were getting much better than anticipated and Gin had taken to using her blades as giant bats. It gave her so much room to work with.

Still, normal children didn't feel like this. What did normal children feel? Her classmates never asked questions but if they had she probably wouldn't have liked them. They'd have been stories of heroes and monsters and victory.

Hah. There wasn't much in the way of victory. How many times had they lost?

Not at all, she realized one day. Not until it was too late.


	20. 20

20.

Sumi would have wanted to say she knew exactly what had happened to Gin. Sumi would have wanted to scream at Taisha with rage, tell them everything, spill the horrible beans and all her guts until those bastards _felt something._

But at some point, she simply can't recall any details. There are shouts, explosions, and Gin whispers something. She sees her mouth move, hears the flames roar up from her soul and then-

She meets Sonoko at the gate, like always, like always.

Their teammate walks up after them, bouncy like always, grinning and nearly late as she scrambles to her desk.

Their classmates greet her as Gin and Yuzuki gives them a smile, exactly the same as before. There is no terminal in hand.


	21. 21

21.

Sumi can't imagine being Gin's family, can't imagine knowing that who is wearing your daughter's face isn't her anymore, just someone pretending and smiling, responding in a careless, breezy sort of way that means she picked up almost everything that would be notable to a stranger.

"Why did this happen?"

Sonoko says this in the strangest, dreamy voice like she's holding on to something heavy, "They've swapped bodies! Like in a hero movie." She's trying to be strong, Sumi realizes, guilt welling up in her throat and stomach because she was forcing her to be strong and for what reason? It wasn't like Sonoko would know any more than she…

"Sorry," she murmured. "It just..."

Sonoko's hands cover hers, cold and a little wet. And then Sonoko is on top of her, hugging her tight and crying hard.

It's all Sumi can do to be grateful they're alone.


	22. 22

22.

"It would have been better if Yuzuki had told them."

"It wouldn't have _sounded_ better."

Their cards were arguing. Scratch that, their LRIGs were arguing and that was probably worse. Sumi is horribly tempted to interrupt but it would do them all about as much good as ripping the card in half. Come to think of it, why hadn't they tried that?

They probably would have been replaced anyhow. They need their soldiers. To fight that Vertex. To-

To die for them. If it was dying.

Finally, Piriluk did address them, looking at Sonoko rather than Sumi. Blue and purple. "I apologize. We… we had all hoped this would not happen."

"When Ru made her wish, it should not have happened," Iona agreed, crossing her arms. And Sumi knows her partner well enough now, knows that when she crosses her arms, she is pouting. When she is looking away, she is sad and hurt. She at least does feel guilty.

But it still happened so what difference does it make? Gin is gone, in spirit.


	23. 23

23.

A long time ago, there was civilization, a much larger, much more beautiful planet for them to live on. In that time, WIXOSS had existed. WIXOSS had been the hit game. But there was more, there was magic, a great, terrible power to grant wishes. And even that had been a lie. Girls had _died_ in this game, desperate for their wishes. No matter how much they fought and won or lost, it would be a terrible outcome either way. Iona, or Yuki, who was created by the game, knew this the best.

Then Ruko started to play. It held her, pulled in and dragged her tight even though she had no reason to play, no person to want to save or take. Not at first.

But when she did, she was magnificent. She reached out to others to save them. She reached into hearts to awaken them. And then she succeeded. She made her wish and it was granted.

But the darkness didn't go away.


	24. 24

24.

The gods rose up with rage. Not at the loss of the game using the despair of human girls. Not really. It was the fact that a human had managed to defy all of their hard work and all of their fun and beat them at their own game with a simple, straightforward wish.

They tried to stop it, of course, they tried to change it, and in the end, the gods went to war.

"The gods went into bullying, really," Piriluk corrects mildly. "The ones that were left called upon us as fairies of the gods, to guard the sanctuary of the Taisha."

"Like children and parents refusing to get along," Iona muses. "And so we, who had played the game, were pulled into these cards, to assist you warriors with wishes. Gin had her wish granted. And with it granted, she went to be with Ru."

"Kominato Ruko," Piriluk says, looking away from them towards the sky. "The Messiah."

Iona lets out a bitter laugh.


	25. 25

25.

In lieu of actually understanding the dumping of such a revelation, a revelation meant only for their ears, the only thing Sumi can think of to do is have a sleepover.

Sonoko giggles with glee at the very idea. Her eyes are soft and damp with unshed tears but Sumi doesn't say a word about those directly, only encourages some alpha waves from her. They must be healthy. After all, there is no way out of this, not without losing their bodies. Not without losing everything.

"Sumi."

She looks at Iona. Iona smiles a little, a heartbroken thing. It's beautiful. "I don't want to do this."

Sumi once would have snapped, then why are you, but she doesn't.

Instead, she says, "I'm sorry too."

Sonoko calls her name. She goes to her without hesitation.

Apparently, they are to try on kimonos together.

Gin walks right past them, smiling sadly as they go.


	26. 26

26.

Golden Week arrives to Sonoko screaming about a book deadline, and Yuzuki - Gin – cleaning the classroom, pretending every thing is normal. No one has noticed the slight falsetto she needs to use. Yuzuki was closer to adulthood than Gin had been. They stress different syllables. But no one notices. They are too in awe of the hero that retired and when they ask probing questions as to why, the only answer they receive is-

"My parents wanted me to stop."

-As if that's actually an answer.

Sumi says nothing against it, only smiles and agrees. She does her best to mimic Sonoko, who is shaking a little at her desk. It's hard to hold up a smile for so long.

Some days, Sumi wonders if it would have been better if Gin were just dead altogether. Then they could actually mourn her.


	27. 27

27.

The festival arrives with a bang. Their academy is full of cafes, plays, exhibitions. There will even be a concert before everyone is dismissed for the fireworks tonight. Sonoko's hand hasn't left hers once, except to buy anything she can find.

And Sumi had thought _her_ adoptive family was rich.

She doesn't even think to look for her birth parents. They were more interested in the honor of having a Hero child than raising an actual child.

"Wasshi! Look, look at those bananas~" A sly grin had wrought over the blonde girl's face and Sumi blanches.

"Y-yes, do you want to buy one?"

Thankfully, she nods eagerly enough and does not say what Sumi had feared she would. That was terrifying in and of itself.

"Gin~" She decides to call out instead, causing the girl to turn. Sumi flinches but Sonoko winds up like a pro pitcher and throws something to smack right into her nose. Gin falls back with a comical thud.

"Sonocchi!" Sumi gives up on manners entirely, but Sonoko only grinsand bounces a plush cat off her head too.

"It's not right if we all don't have one~" She exclaimes, twirling about her. "Come on Wasshi, let's go!"

Sumi hesitates, watching Yu-Gin get up with a grumble. But then the girl grins, and there is no difference, none at all!

" _Nice!_ " Gin calls in terrible, _terrible_ English. "I like it baby, like it a lot!"

Sumi facepalms. She is going to hit them both.


	28. 28

28.

"Ru..."

Iona dreams. Iona dreams and weeps.

Sumi presses her finger over the card as if she could wipe the tears away.

"Piriluk-san doesn't do that," Sonoko muses over the sound of the fireworks. She glances at the LRIG around her neck as she speaks, unwilling to let go of Sumi's hand. It's warm, not clammy, just warm. Her hands always are.

Piriluk smiles a little. "The person who saved me was an ordinary girl, who lived an ordinary life. She died at peace and helping as she wanted to help. Unlike Iona, I wasn't attached to Kominato Ruko-san. She was just another opponent." She sighs. "I tried to follow in her footsteps, however, foolish though it may have seemed to so many others."

"Oh..." Sumi looks down at the sleeping, trembling card.

"She loved her," Sumi says simply. Loved her more than any god, than her creator. Just as Tama did. She wanted to stay, but then if she had, you could have had someone worse."

But she doesn't say who would be worse, or why she wasn't there. She just looked up at the fireworks and when Gin sat beside them, chided her for taking her time.

Seeing Gin's body in that kimono makes _Sumi_ cry. Eventually, there's not a dry eye from the five of them and that's okay.

At least, Sonoko thinks so.


	29. 29

29.

Their terminals are the same color, but they are bathed in holy water and dressed as if they are dolls anyway. "It's an upgrade," their teacher claims. Sensei is as blank as ever when she speaks, as soothing. She dons her porcelain mask after a while, locking Sonoko and Sumi away from the only ally they have.

So the worship, the honor continues. At some point, Sumi glimpses Yuzuki standing nearby. Gin's hair is getting longer, darker. Her eyes look a little closer to amber. She smiles at them, sadly, knowingly. She mouths words at the two of them.

When they blink, she's gone.

And the forestize warning goes off in an explosion, a weak gunshot sound all the way to a thunderclap.

The two of them join hands.


	30. 30

30.

Bloody rain falls.

Sumi is dimly aware that the rain is from her fingers and from Sonoko, but they are only two now. And she has to cover Sonoko. She fires and fires. "SIGNII!" She screams. "Iona! Grow! Black-"

Sonoko's cry of pain cuts her off as she falls, a fall that would kill a human, a fall that only causes her to get back up, spit still white.

Sonoko looks back at her and manages a grin. "We can do this!"

Just as she says that, tears fall from Sumi's eyes. Another Vertex lands in front of the one metaphorically licking its wounds.

 _We can't do this._

"Sumi." Eyes streaked with tears, Sumi looks over at Iona. "Trust in me."

The words are wrong for the deadpan, sour LRIG. "For what?"

She looks over, away from the battle. "Trust in me. I want to see Ru again." She holds out her gloved hand. Sumi hesitates, and then takes it. "Now repeat after me."

Sumi nods.

"I accept the laws of the selection."

She repeats the words slowly, unable to hear the sounds of battle.

Iona smiles. "Now, a new Eternal Girl will be born."

She repeats them and then another word forms from her mouth. "Mankai."

The world turns blue and purple and alive, but she is not in it. She is in a white apartment building, looking at a group of girls.

"Aw," says one, her white hair in twintails. "I thought Yuzuki-chan would make it this time."

"She has time," murmurs the second, patting her head. "We'll all be together soon, I'm sure." She smiles at Sumi.

"Ruko," Sumi says and she doesn't know why she says it, she just knows that it's true.

"Mm!" Ruko lets out a noise of joy, rising up from what is likely her bed. "And you're Sumi-chan! Gin-chan has told us all about you."

"Gin has?" A warmth, bubbling and sad, welled up in her chest.

"Yep."

Sumi turns around to see Gin standing behind her.

"Hey," she says.

Sumi weeps again.


	31. 31

31.

Sonoko needs to be here. She needs to be here for this. She needs to see it is true. Gin isn't dead. She was just here. She is safe and alive… or something like it, oh Sonoko needs to _see this_.

She and Gin hug for a long time, smiling as only Heroes can. Then a horrible pain strikes her chest. She coughs, knees giving way. Ruko takes her other side with Gin, the older girl still smiling a sad, knowing smile. Everything hurts all of a sudden.

"Where am I?" she croaks.

"Like Heaven but limited," Gin cracks in reply, sitting on the floor. "Heroes are sent here. Heroes and LRIGs. When Taisha is done with them. Or when they just can't fight anymore."

"It was the only way to balance the Hero system. Yuna-san, she helped me a lot." Ruko sits like any other girl: legs bouncing, smiling pleasantly. She is supposedly a ruthless battler, willing to destroy any wish for the sake of her victory. "Taisha-san, they couldn't help it. They had to rush something into place against the gods." She sighs. "So we had to patch it up the best we could."

"Yuki's fighting right now!" exclaims the girl dressed in white. "I feel it, Ru! I need to help!"

Ruko giggles, bright and lively and warm. "It'll be okay, Tama. I believe in her! You should too."

She is pacified so easily, so gently. When Ruko turns back to her, eyes ablaze, Sumi takes a step back.

"You need to go on back now," she tells her gently. "You still have a friend on that side. Sonoko-chan needs you."

Sumi can't even think of refusing, not even when Gin's hand slips away from hers. She will save Sonoko, her friend, her… something.

And she will… she will… what?


	32. 32

32.

Sonoko's fear for Sumi as she dancesin the sky with guns in hand is _nothing_ compared to the fear she has now of those blank, big eyes, and the terror in her face. Washio Sumi's entire life is gone. Her best friend, her memories of Gin, everything is gone and she is going to die out here.

Because of Taisha. Because of Taisha and this stupid game and this war that gods created.

"Piriluk!" she shouts. " _Help me!"_

"Of course." Her LRIG's voice is as steady as she comes, cold and unforgiving to the world.

With a battle cry, purple blossoms over her skin, her hair, her hands, her everything. And she lunges for the many Vertex.

All of them would fall.

* * *

Togo Mimori's fingers tremble around the wheels of her chair. This isn't right somehow. It is where she belongs but… it isn't right. She shivers in the spring air.

She… she needs to be doing something, needs to be somewhere, with someone. There's just… something she has to say, no matter what.

"Hello!"

And that was not it. She looks up to see gentle red and pink, a brilliant smile that seems to know everything in the universe.

She doesn't smile. Her face hurts. She thinks of blond hair and citrus and pencils and shivers. "H-Hello..."

"I'm Yuki Yuna!" the other girl blurts out "You just moved here, right?" She leans down and presses their hands together. "Ohowoow~!" She jumps back with a giggle. "Your hands are cold!"

Her hands were warm, not clammy, but warm. And it's nostalgic.

"Togo Mimori," she manages to say, the dry warmth of the other girl's palms catching her off guard.

"Nice to meet you, Togo-san!" and as their hands shake properly, a card reader comes loose from her jacket. A girl with white pigtails sat on it. It was perfectly still at first.

Then the girl smiles and waves at her.

Togo Mimori shivers, and not with cold.


End file.
